RiskUKOctober2017

Raising Standards: A Commitment to
Learning in the Security Business Sector
future. Indeed, both are absolutely essential
when it comes to raising standards and quality
across the industry.
As the management
team resident at any
leading business will
readily tell you, a
company’s people are
the key to its success,
both in the here and
now and, indeed, the
future. This is
particularly true of the
security guarding
sector where
harnessing the
‘people factor’ has
been something of a
constant challenge.
Duaine Taylor
searches for a longterm
solution
Motivating and engaging security staff –
and making them feel a valued part of
the host organisation – is absolutely
vital, but in a general environment where their
role and importance is being steadily
undermined by a host of factors, and margins
remain under pressure, it’s beholden upon us
to think more imaginatively about how we
retain and invest in a quality workforce.
There’s not one single reason that has
brought about this situation, but rather a
combination of factors. What’s important,
however, is to instil security officers, clients and
the public at large with greater confidence in
what it is that we do. Part of the answer here
focuses squarely on promoting security
guarding not just as a temporary ‘make do’ job
until something better comes along, but as
more of a career and one with real prospects of
personal and professional development.
Thankfully, there are signs that this shift in
mindset is already starting to take hold.
Employee surveys suggest that there’s now a
renewed enthusiasm for the role of ‘security
officer’, with those working on the front line
having career ambitions that deserve to be
nurtured and developed. We want to retain
these individuals, give them the skills to
progress and, in doing so, shape a better longterm
future for the business sector as a whole.
Let’s be clear. Learning and development for
security officers is – and will continue to be – a
key driver for change both now and in the
Taking back control
Learning and development is an area that has
generated considerable debate. Most
commentators in our sphere are agreed that, to
raise standards, it’s essential to better train the
men and women resident in security teams.
Licensing thanks to the Security Industry
Authority was (and is) part of this quality drive,
but progress has been hampered somewhat by
a number of instances where external training
providers have been shown not to be delivering
the mandatory training required for a licence to
be granted or renewed.
At this point, I should stress that this isn’t
our own experience. Indeed, we’ve worked hard
with our training partners to ensure that all of
our security officers are fully-equipped for the
role for which they’re employed. However, such
episodes have served to knock confidence in
the licensing regime, arguably so to the point of
de-valuing the licence itself.
Perception is a big part of the problem. For
security companies to be truly accountable,
there’s a strong argument for training their
officers in-house. Real quality, it could be said,
is best delivered by maintaining thorough
control of the ‘product’. It was with this very
thought in mind that we set about creating our
own dedicated learning and development
business some 18 months ago.
The culmination of our thinking and analysis
of future needs has led to the opening of The
Axis Academy – a new training business which
sits within the Axis Group. By setting up our
own regulated training operation, we believe
that we’re reducing risk and re-claiming that
‘confidence’ for our employees and customers.
Bespoke learning
The Axis Academy is the cornerstone of the Axis
Group’s broader people strategy. Its
fundamental purpose is to provide the right
learning and development opportunities for
employees of the businesses which form the
Axis Group, including Axis Security (our security
guarding business) and Acuity, which delivers
bespoke and specialist Front of House services.
The key benefit of having our own training
business as part of the Axis Group is that we’re
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